George Mason famous quotes

To disarm the people is the best and most effectual Way to enslave them.
-- George Mason

#Strength #Peace #People

The epithets of parent and child have been long applied to Great Britain and her colonies, [but] we rarely see anything from your side of the water except the authoritative style of a master to a school-boy.
-- George Mason

#Children #School #Boys

I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.
-- George Mason

#People #Liberty #Libertarian

Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.
-- George Mason

#Taken #Men #People

[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.
-- George Mason

#Gun #Men #America

Those gentlemen, who will be elected senators, will fix themselves in the federal town, and become citizens of that town more than of your state.
-- George Mason

#Gentleman #Citizens #Towns

Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise.
-- George Mason

#Waiting #Noise #Make You Happy

All men are created equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing the obtaining of happiness and safety.
-- George Mason

#Mean #Independent #Men

Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a Country. As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.
-- George Mason

#Country #Tyrants #Heaven

Considering the natural lust for power so inherent in man, I fear the thirst of power will prevail to oppress the people.
-- George Mason

#Men #People #Lust

As much as I value an union of all the states, I would not admit the southern states into the union, unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade, because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union.
-- George Mason

#Southern #Weakness #Unions

Government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit and security of the people, nation or community; whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, indefeasible right, to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public Weal.
-- George Mason

#Government #People #Community

That the people have a Right to mass and to bear arms; that a well regulated militia composed of the Body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper natural and safe defense of a free state, that standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided...
-- George Mason

#Army #Gun #People

Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.
-- George Mason

#Prosperity #Virtue

I ask you sir, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people.
-- George Mason

#Gun #People #Gun Control

There is a Passion natural to the Mind of man, especially a free Man, which renders him impatient of Restraint.
-- George Mason

#Passion #Men #Mind

No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue.
-- George Mason

#Freedom #Blessing #Government

A few years' experience will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings.
-- George Mason

#Blessing #Years #Convince

The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.
-- George Mason

#Patriotic #Law #Earth

We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.
-- George Mason

#World #Civil Rights #This World

In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim - that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.
-- George Mason

#Sight #Agreement #People

All men are by nature born equally free and independent.
-- George Mason

#Freedom #Independent #Men

All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; [...] magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.
-- George Mason

#People #Servant #All Time

Slavery discourages arts and manufactures.
-- George Mason

#Art #Slavery #Discouraging

I give and bequeath my soul to Almighty God that gave it me, hoping that through the meritorious death and passion of our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ to receive absolution and remission for all my sins.
-- George Mason

#Jesus #Passion #Giving

The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.
-- George Mason

#Government #Liberty #Freedom Of The Press

Successfully reframing the climate debate in the United States from one based on environmental values to one based on health values...holds great promise to help American society better understand and appreciate the risks of climate change...
-- George Mason

#Appreciate #Risk #Promise

As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this.
-- George Mason

#World #Next #Can Not

No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued. Shall any man be above Justice?
-- George Mason

#Men #Justice #Should

This cold weather has set all the young Folks to providing Bedfellows. I have signed two or three Licences every Day [as a Fairfax Justice of the Peace] since I have been at Home. I wish I knew where to get a good one myself; for I find cold Sheets extreamly disagreeable.
-- George Mason

#Home #Weather #Two

Taught to regard a part of our own Species in the most abject and contemptible Degree below us, we lose that Idea of the dignity of Man which the Hand of Nature had implanted in us, for great and useful purposes.
-- George Mason

#Men #Hands #Ideas

Whatever power may be necessary for the National Government a certain portion must necessarily be left in the States. It is impossible for one power to pervade the extreme parts of the U.S. so as to carry equal justice to them.
-- George Mason

#Government #Justice #May

We owe to our Mother-Country the Duty of Subjects but will not pay her the Submission of Slaves.
-- George Mason

#Mother #Country #Pay

I determined to spend the Remainder of my Days in privacy and Retirement with my Children, from whose Society alone I cou'd expect Comfort.
-- George Mason

#Retirement #Children #Comfort

That no free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles; and by the recognition by all citizens that they have duties as well as rights, and that such rights cannot be enjoyed save in a society where law is respected and due process is observed.
-- George Mason

#Blessing #Rights #Government

I begin to grow heartily tired of the etiquette and nonsense so fashionable in this city.
-- George Mason

#Tired #Cities #Nonsense

That slow poison [slavery] is daily contaminating the minds and morals of our people. Every gentlemen here is born a petty tyrant, practiced in acts of despotism and cruelty.
-- George Mason

#Tyrants #People #Mind

I wish I knew where to get a good one myself; for I find cold Sheets extreamly disagreeable.
-- George Mason

#Wish #Cold #Sheets

Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.
-- George Mason

#Government #Safety #Community

The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.
-- George Mason

#Slave #Poor #Despise

The augmentation of slaves weakens the states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and disgraceful to mankind.
-- George Mason

#Slavery #States #Mankind

The [President's] Nomination, of Course, brings the Subject fully under the Consideration of the Senate; who have then a Right to decide upon its Propriety or Impropriety.
-- George Mason

#President #Nominations #Consideration

Habituated from our Infancy to trample upon the Rights of Human Nature, every generous, every liberal Sentiment, if not extinguished, is enfeebled in our Minds.
-- George Mason

#Rights #Mind #Sentimental

Attend with Diligence and strict Integrity to the Interest of your Correspondents and enter into no Engagements which you have not the almost certain Means of performing.
-- George Mason

#Integrity #Mean #Engagement

I retired from public Business from a thorough Conviction that it was not in my Power to do any Good, and very much disgusted with Measures, which appeared to me inconsistent with common Policy and Justice.
-- George Mason

#Justice #Common #Thorough

Slavery discourages arts and manufacturing ...[and] every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
-- George Mason

#Art #Tyrants #Slavery

Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day. If that paper on the table [the Constitution] gets no alteration, the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and low, and rich and poor. ...
-- George Mason

#Class #People #Paper

It is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth.
-- George Mason

#Religious #Father #People

Who are the militia, if they be not the people of this country...? I ask, who are the militia? They consist of now of the whole people, except a few public officers.
-- George Mason

#Country #People #Second Amendment

Is it to be expected that the Southern States will deliver themselves bound hand and foot to the Eastern States? A few rich merchants in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York could thereby monopolise the staples of the Southern States and reduce their value.
-- George Mason

#New York #War #Boston

All power is lodged in, and consequently derived from, the people. We should wear it as a breastplate, and buckle it on as our armour.
-- George Mason

#People #Revolution #Should

Our All is at Stake, and the little Conveniencys and Comforts of Life, when set in Competition with our Liberty, ought to be rejected not with Reluctance but with Pleasure.
-- George Mason

#Competition #Liberty #Comfort

That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public uses, without their own consent, or that of their representives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assembled, for the public good.
-- George Mason

#Men #Law #People

That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.
-- George Mason

#Rights #Law #People

Every selfish motive therefore, every family attachment, ought to recommend such a system of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights and happiness of the lowest than of the highest orders of Citizens.
-- George Mason

#Selfish #Rights #Attachment

One of the first principles of decorative art is that in all manufactures ornament must hold a place subordinate to that of utility; and when, by its exuberance, ornament interferes with utility, it is misplaced and vulgar.
-- George Mason

#Art #Principles #Ornaments

That the people have a right to uniform government; and, therefore, that no government separate from, or independent of the government of Virginia, ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof.
-- George Mason

#Independent #Government #Virginia

That in controversies respecting property, and in suits between man and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred.
-- George Mason

#Men #Trials #Sacred

That general warrants, whereby an officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offence is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted.
-- George Mason

#May #Messengers #Facts

That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man bath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favor, and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of twelve men of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty; nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself; that no man be deprived of his liberty, except by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.
-- George Mason

#Men #Law #Land

That the legislative and executive powers of the State should be separate and distinct from the judiciary; and that the members of the two first may be restrained from oppression, by feeling and participating the burdens of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station, return into that body from which they were originally taken, and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain, and regular elections, in which all, or any part of the former members, to be again eligible, or ineligible, as the laws shall direct.
-- George Mason

#Taken #Law #Two

That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge to be hereditary.
-- George Mason

#Men #Judging #Office

I thank God, I have been able, by adopting Principles of strict Economy and Frugality, to keep my principal, I mean my Country-Estate, unimpaired.
-- George Mason

#Country #Mean #Thank God

I am now pretty far advanced in life, and all my views are center'd in the Happiness and well-fare of my children; you will therefore find from me every Indulgence which you have a right to expect from an affectionate Parent.
-- George Mason

#Children #Views #Parent

I quitted my Seat in the House of Delegates, from a Conviction that I was no longer able to do any essential Service.
-- George Mason

#House #Essentials #Able

I have been for some time in Retirement, and shall not probably return again to public Life; yet my Anxiety for my Country, in these Times of Danger, makes me sometimes dabble a little in Politicks, and keep up a Correspondence with some Men upon the public Stage.
-- George Mason

#Country #Retirement #Anxiety